beware of the dawn, beware of twilight
beware of those scavenging muses we stash away
these popes and their tales,
we held onto each other when everyone else
disappeared

bones that we are, bones kissing in the car
intertwined and anchored
sweet in the dark, we're fragments of a nova
shrugging on a poem, just momentarily

I can't choose what deserves attention,
what deserves molding, what
deserves recompense
this love is like a fog, opaque,
mistaking shapes until it severs
flawless, until it kidnaps me
until we empty the idea,
nothing so near can revel
in the static

I think I comprehend, the story is recurring
nothing that is alight can blaze that long
you whispered I had kept my crusade
possible something, possible reality
not dwindling like petals in former places
meandering on a fixed street,
this life,
it keeps us pursuing because I'm lost

scatter my tendons, clear me out
bound so unyielding, that's all I take in
let your sad fill me up
confirm that this was what you had in mind
let you fill me up
bones that we are, bones kissing in the car

-c.j.

attach a little close to-
resting lovely, so nervous
the loops secure you at my edge
above, in nooks, violet open
and shut for the sound

high and far, my light will lose
if yours is stolen
I'd hold the quarters

denser theory, buzzing fly,
straight plummet
my flighty fingers, technical shocks
designed for me

it was a shattered route
shifting sheets foremost
blustery notes tuck me away
over hushed aches, harms it
revolves around every whimper
takes my debating love across

attach a little close to this
seems years, leaves loops,
hearts burst,
stays apart
stays a fully strange one
attach a little close to a poem
that is closing

-c.j.

the avenue cracks the night
my interior is divided
this is our history
I mean to renounce it here

the ledges unfold to graze your skin
the mortar swirls to flood, escape
but I can imagine us here, without the panic

I long to uncover those volumes
forage your countenance, torture us
you're a mere drizzle to someone parched
a drizzle to the arid and the parched

because all of us abandon bravery's crowd
but I'll forever be bravery's progeny
the history I'll blur
I mean to renounce it here

you claim you have your chance again
but you can't and the caution begins now
what's in between the lines?
it grieves you yet you can't absorb the holes
we're a tetra-band on a rosary
so decline the impending ruin
I'll be your compass, I'll be your sight

I'll send the last jab in the ribs
and I refuse to be with you in this state
breathing in the center, oblivious exterior
wanting it to be a feigned violence
comfortable with a deity's aura
turned away, take up a different persona

-c.j.

I'll resume the noiseless punishment
from your limbs, asymmetrical
I'll resume the elementary pessimism
less conversing, more concept
I, above you, that's all you'll obtain from me

I'll stay awake observing the clock
you wander back, protected within these walls
tangled lately, but then
without angst, a revered accolade
I, above you, that's all you've offered me

I'll resume the noiseless punishment
from your limbs, second to none
I'll resume the elementary pattern
less friends, more elbow room
the vein's deceit
don't tell my own story
the lifeless cell
don't tell my own story
and yearn for the remaining trouble

I'll resume a subtle exit
but I'm ignited, tempest-like
so I'll resume the noiseless punishment

-c.j.

bring in the party, bring in the arbitration
how else can a silhouette on her back not tarry?
bring in the secluded, request for you to connect
to her, slowly
believes only you

nothing surrounding will pay mind
nothing surrounding you
this line that you're tracing
is one stitched parallel for many
the edges, the lengths, flustering
I hope the terrors are concealed by my love

my love, love is the volatile scope of fiction
a façade to cling to when all is wrong
you come alive with pages and crooked fingers
can't you realise I'm fine?
the hazards of implying any lack of strength
just to blank on your birthday,
nothing surrounding

-c.j.

we should go down this street, it's been awhile
and allow the hatred to cover you, eventually
we should go down this street, it's awhile since
the last time
we should rest and speak to each other and
unwind, cease the hurry
just return to who we were, eventually
we should go, we should see something like beauty
these roads belong to us
it's possible to become the other people
grasp the ends, leap in from yesterday
these roads belong to us
these are our ultimatums, and for the best
may you take the wheel?
witness us in the white light
inquire my whereabouts
return home, return to longing
these are our origins

-c.j.

wrap yourself closely to me
pull your past identity
reminiscence we're anxious to quit
we'll coast effortlessly
I swear I'll keep my eyes on what's ahead
it's an hourglass spent
both terminals are beginning to lapse
we've exchanged so much
it's resistance that's supplied us courage
we're not figurative
we're not carbon copies
no coin to mesmerise or evoke memory
sweating, acting
it seems peculiar
wrap ourselves closely again

-c.j.